1998 Honda Civic LX 245,000 Miles.

For the last 30,000 miles, I have been driving on general altimax arctic SNOW tires (including this summer.)
IMPORTANT: When the tires were mounted and balanced, the mechanic had to use balance weights to try and balance the rear wheels because they were somewhat out of whack.

Last I had an alignment was 50,000 highway miles ago.


The Rear tires are missing chunks of tire tread. Only the rear. And I am trying to figure out what the cause is.

It could be
1) That I'm driving on snow tires in the summer at highway speeds.
2) That the rear wheels are slightly out of balance still.
3) Shocks/struts or suspension components worn.
4) any combo of above.

Within the past 100k miles, Ive replaced the shock/strut units, and car bounces right back up when I push down.
Wheel bearings are also fine. No resistance or play in them.

At first I thought the trailing arm bushings were bad, but upon closer look, they seem ok.
So if all my suspension seems to be OK, why are only the rear tires doing poorly?!

I'm hesitant to buy an all season set of wheels/tires if the suspension is out of whack.

 

 

When was the last time you rotated the tires?

What type of "driving" are you doing with them, e.g. hard cornering, launches?

As a side note, you're getting poor fuel economy daily driving those tires especially during the summer. Hot roads and soft tires.





eH.

 

I do make hard turns. But wouldn't that unevenly wear out the front more than the rear?

I haven't rotated them. They are directional, so i can only swap the front and rear, but at this point, I fear doing that because I don't want to wear out my good pair.

 

I suspect it's purely from soft rubber made for the cold weather that is going through hot summer. Less weight in the rear so it can throw chunks of it's super soft rubber easier at highway speeds.

At least on the front the rubber is compressed more at speed due to the heavier weight of the motor etc.

You need to get off them tires during the hot summer, that soft rubber is not meant for this kind of temperatures.

 

50K miles is a long time to go without an alignment.

Get it re aligned. And/or check the condition of your shocks.

 

That's an interesting point. I'm getting an alignment done at the moment.

 

so I got an alignment done. The technician said something about how the rear wheels can't be perfectly aligned because of the design of the car being a single axle or something. He also said he thinks the heat it the main culprit in the tire cupping.

There are are two distinct seeking noises that come from the rear of the car. I believe one is from the shock strut assembly and the other from bushings. But the suspension seems fine.

So, I really don't know. I'm tempted to rotate the tires to see if the good tires, now on the front, react the same way.

 

I think the technician may be referring to worn/stuck parts...or maybe he's saying that it's hard to get the angles precise because of the procedure to align the rear. It involves a pry bar and is primitive AF.

Snow tires are not meant for use once the temps rise, as their name suggests.

But...I know plenty of people that run them year round. I doubt the cupping on the rear of your Honda is from heat. Any climate where it also snows does not typically have intense heat.

The cupping can very likely be from worn shocks and/or a alignment issues. Your RTA bushings are probably also torn, like 99.9% of the old Hondas on the road.

 

Guess you've never been to Ontario or even the plains of Canada. Seems lately, they get brutal winters and extreme summers.

Heard that Toronto Ontario just had a heat warning telling residents to not leave their homes until after 3pm as it was dangerously hot out.

 

That car has fully independent rear suspension, you can definitely adjust toe perfectly. Camber and caster are not adjustable from the factory, although you can buy adjustable upper control arms, often referred to as a camber kit to adjust camber as well.

I think your problem is largely due to running winter tires in the summer. I've done it before as well and they don't last long and don't wear evenly. If the car is out of alignment and you're taking corners hard and fast it's going to compound the problem.

Come to the east coast of Canada. Temperature ranges anywhere from about -30F to 95F

 

Lol. 95F isn't extremely hot, my friends. And I don't need to go to Canada for those temp swings. It can get up to about 100F in Chicago. And down to -20F.

LOL @ 95F is extreme heat. LOL LOL. We had heat warnings in this area when it was 90F out too. They're more like "alerts to boost our ratings".

Those "EXTREME temps" only last for 2 days or so anyway.

As I said....It does not typically get very hot in places where it also snows.

 

Anyway...normal driving at 95F isn't going to cause cupping on rear snow tires.

Maybe a 80-90mph sprint thru death valley at 130F. But still...probably not in 2 days.

It has never been hot in northern America/Canada since the Earth stopped cooling billions of years ago. The fact that people who get heat exhaustion at 80F are natives to said areas would prove my point.